Regular readers know that
- I love Saturn,
- I love Emily, and
- I love optical illusions.
So when you have Emily posting on an illusion dealing with Saturn’s rings, you know you’re onto something pretty cool.
See how the ring looks darker where it crosses the moon Mimas than when you see it over a dark background? Emily checked, and the ring pixel values are actually higher there!
I suspect Emily’s conclusion is correct; light from Mimas is coming through the ring, adding to its pixel value. But the rest of Mimas is so bright that the ring looks dark compared it it. That’s an odd illusion, but a well-known one.
January 2nd, 2008 at 8:21 pm
All these pictures from Saturn are getting boring. I think we should send a probe to Uranus. No particular reason, except that it would make for some great proctology jokes.
January 2nd, 2008 at 8:59 pm
I love the chessboard optical illusion (linked to above). The illusion is so powerful that the first time I saw it I had to get out Gimp to cut out the two squares and manually compare them.
January 2nd, 2008 at 9:17 pm
One word: sweet!
Ok, that’s three. Six. Eight. D’oh!
I think I voted for that one (or one rather like it) in the poll a few days back. If not, I vote to change my vote.
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Odd illusion or not, it’s just a cool picture!
Re: Uranus… Anyone else want to post the Futurama bit with Prof Farnsworth explaining to Fry that Uranus was renamed?
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Happy to oblige:
Fry: “Hey, as long as you don’t make me smell Uranus.” *laughs*
Leela: “I don’t get it.”
Professor: “I’m sorry, Fry, but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all.”
Fry: “Oh. What’s it called now?”
Professor: “Urectum. Here, let me locate it for you.”
Fry: “Hehe, no, no, I think I’ll just smell around a bit over here.”
MP3
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Oh, and the ring/moon shot is awesome.
January 3rd, 2008 at 12:15 am
Nice image. Interesting ways that the mind is either fooled or tricks us.
Lugosi, there’s just something nasty about sending a probe to Uranus.
January 3rd, 2008 at 9:09 am
I personally would love a deep probe of,,,Neptune!!!
,,,Mainly because I wonder what’s under the clouds, or if it has a solid surface.
GAry 7
January 3rd, 2008 at 9:24 am
What are the odds of a stray object of the size that caused a
1/3rd the diameter of the moon crater, to actually hit the moon?
January 3rd, 2008 at 9:43 am
Edward,
If you’re talking about Mimas… 1:1
If you’re talking about any other moon… slim.
to almost none.
Until it happens.
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Edward C:
At the time the crater was made, quite slim odds. It’s important to remember, though, that most all the large impact basins/craters on Saturn’s moons are very, very old (a billion years and older). So, though the odds were still very slim even in those times, they were a whole lot higher than they would be in the present millennia.
January 3rd, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Thanks, Supernova!
January 4th, 2008 at 2:42 am
Mimas of the 9 craters, and the rings of doom.